ABOUT ALAW

The founding membership of Autism Living and Working (ALAW) is drawn from Greater Philadelphia area people with autism ranging in age from early twenties to fifties, and their families. For twenty-five years this group of families has been advocating for better understanding of the challenges of autism, and for school programs and public policies beneficial to their children’s lives. They formed ALAW, which became a Pennsylvania nonprofit corporation in 1995, and received federal tax-exempt recognition in 1997. ALAW has an active and expanding membership which meets regularly.

ALAW’s first goal has been to secure the services and supports necessary to sustain the participation of adults with autism in the normal round of adult life—help in carrying out daily household routines, support to get and keep jobs, assistance with continuing education, and connection with community volunteering and social opportunities.

This is being achieved for the participants in the Autism Pilot Program, and offers a model for the development of a statewide autism services system for adults. ALAW is working to establish this service model in state law, and to secure ongoing funding.

ALAW’s second goal has been to enable adults with autism to form households apart from their parents. Autism Pilot Program participants are using both public and private sources of home purchase and rental funding, along with contributing toward their own housing costs. However, it is hard to move from the current disability service pattern where the service provider chooses the living arrangement—including type and location of dwelling, and who and how many other people live there—to housing that is self-determined. ALAW will continue to seek both public and private affordable housing funding for adults with autism.